GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Lawyers for a Saudi prisoner charged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. argued for access to more of his medical records and to allow him to meet with officials from his government as the latest pretrial hearing in the case ended nearly a week ahead of schedule Thursday.
The attorneys for Mustafa Hawsawi told the judge he is seriously ill and want to determine if he is getting proper treatment while in custody at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay. They want access to consular officials from Saudi Arabia’s government for assistance contacting his family and to help prepare his defense on charges that include murder and terrorism.
Prosecutors opposed both motions, arguing that the court should not intervene in his medical treatment at Guantanamo and that Saudi consular officials have adequate access to the prisoner through his lawyers.
The judge did not rule on either motion before recessing the tribunal.
Hawsawi is one of five men held at Guantanamo who face trial by military commission on charges that include murder and terrorism for planning and providing support to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack.
The two motions were among several issues the war crimes court handled at a hearing that had been scheduled to run for two weeks. The court was unable to deal with most of the items on the docket because of an unresolved inquiry into whether at least one legal team has a conflict of interest and because lawyers for all the prisoners except Hawsawi want time to look into the revelation Monday that an interpreter for one defendant was a former CIA translator.
Hearings in the case are scheduled to resume at the base in April. No trial date has been set.
